Ground Co. Offers Reports
BostonCoach in September will roll out a suite of self-service tools to help travel managers get a better grasp of their ground transportation spend. The self-service features, which will permit users to view current reservations, archive invoices for up to two years and manage more complex pickup information, are a first among the major ground transportation suppliers, though a third-party reservation provider, Saturn Reservation Systems, has offered its Web-based self-service reporting tool since May 2001.
The BostonCoach tools combine streams of data that, in this industry at least, are not commonly combined in an automated fashion. As with other industry segments, a reporting tool successfully captures the depth lost in corporate card reporting, particularly in a travel transaction that can be rife with multiple surcharges.
Using such applications as Microsoft Excel, the password-protected tools will permit corporate travel managers to examine pre- and post-ride compliance, and break down charges to base fare, service fees, wait time and stop time.
In a cost-savings opportunity exclusive to ground transportation, companies also can scour reservation patterns to find opportunities for carpooling, said BostonCoach president Russ Cooke.
The tools were created after Everett, Mass.-based BostonCoach elicited feedback from 15 travel managers in New York and Boston. "This will really help travel managers get their arms around their ground transportation spend," Cooke said.
Other major suppliers provide this data to corporate customers in a more traditional fashion.
"We can break spend down anyway they want," said Bob Lockett, director of marketing for Norwood, N.J.-based Empire International. A new cost-consciousness emerging from buyers could give sophisticated reporting tools a distinct advantage. "The downside is there is a cost to do that," Lockett added.
A supplier-based reporting tool could inspire a greater move to consolidate car services suppliers and discern true spend, though buyers still seem divided on whether these tools are worth true consolidation when the current market is filled with overeager suppliers willing to slash prices.
"Right now, buyers are looking for the best available price in each market," said Art Kienle, senior vice president of marketing for Washington-based Carey International.
Craig Banikowski, travel manager for Janus Capital Management, said the ability to manage a car services program is of more value than a strict cost-savings approach.
Meanwhile, offering its own reporting product for companies with multiple car services suppliers, Saturn Reservation Systems' SaturnConnect provides real-time, exportable data that can be searched by service provider, date, region, noncompliance, overcharges and off-peak usage.
"A third-party reporting tool, such as ours, allows corporate travel managers to see their spend in a homogeneous fashion across all service providers," said Saturn founder and CEO Gregg Tuccillo. "After targeting the larger costs of travel, reporting tools allow travel managers to go after the last piece of the spend."